tei, I hope you never need a police officer.

I hope he does. That would be hysterical. The best part about it would be that the cop would probably help him, no matter how hard he'd try to squirm away.

Unlike tombo, you did NOT break the law. Under Oregon law, reflectors and lights are only required on bicycles when ridden at night. The cop was a jerk and misapplied the law, and unlike tombo YOU can get out of your ticket.

where has ken cox gone? i' sure as a fellow portland resident he would love to post some wise words about this situation.

fyi in england standard penalty charge (when applied) is £30. guess we get off lightly for riding like jerks.

Around here at least, it would make more sense to change the law, so that bikes are allowed to treat stop signs and red lights like yield signs. Slow down enough for a clear view and roll on through if it's safe.

I understand that's already the law in some US states, and perhaps in some other countries?

In the meanwhile, the cop's not a jerk for doing his job; it's a jerky law. The worst thing about laws like these is that they can be used as an excuse to hassle people (cyclists in this case) pretty much anytime. I strongly recommend the "no cop, no stop" guideline. Just be sure you look all directions at every intersection (good idea anyway, no?).

sentinel, s 9, and whomever else

when was the last time that a cop was of any value to you?

I've never needed anything from one, and honestly can't imagine a situation where I would.

I have only had bad experiences with them. ie...DWB, BWB (biking while black), BB (not bottom bracket, but rather being black).

one of my best friends is a cop. he's of value to me quite often.

for example?

teia, how old are you?

because you're acting like a kid in high school who wants to act rebellious so he hates all cops.

i mean, you may not be, but you're acting like it. go back and read some of your posts. and i'm not even being hateful. just... serious.

in what way is a friend valuable to me? i guess you don't grasp the idea of 'friendship', and that's kinda sad.

Tei, I am a police officer and have been for over 15 years. I am also a child passenger safety technician instructor. I teach parents, black, which, rich or poor how to properly install child safety seats. I received a car today from a mother I dealt with thanking me for what I did to help her keep her son safer. It's really sad how you look at the police. Are there officers who are bad...yes, last I knew we still recruited from the human race. Don't paint with such a broad brush. You seem to have no problem doing so towards police, but are angry with them when you think they do it to you. If there hasn't been a time yet, there will be one where you need the police. With your attitude, you can't help but lose.

I generally haven't had the best luck with police (maybe because I'm usually breaking the law when we have interactions), but this is mostly choices I make regarding my lifestyle. So ... people have to do their jobs (begrudgingly sometimes), and you'd be suprised how far a little courtesy can get you.

Treat police with an ounce of respect and you'll be suprised at what the outcome will be sometimes (especially when they're being forced to write tickets for something they feel is a waste of their time).

i've only had bad experiences with cops. i mean, i've had one beat the hell out of me.

but i know they're there for a reason. i respect that. and i respect the officers that do their job. some people that ride bikes are *******s too.

there are good cops and bad cops...just like any profession. i have had positive and negative interactions with them, too.

-i had full support of a cop when i was doored (while riding my fixie) and he wrote up a report threatening to charge the driver (and he deferred to ask me whether i felt it was important to proceed).
-i had a cop pull a drunk driver off to jail that a friend and i were able to get to pull over (the driver was surprisingly willing to stop and was so drunk he was driving with a completely flat front tire with sparks flying off the rim!). i am grateful he was taken off the road for my safety and other cyclists!
-one of my best friends is a cop and has arrested guys beating their wife/gf (drunken domestic violence is one of his most common calls...usually guys beating women). sure, that has nothing to do with cycling, but what i am trying to say is that to broadly claim that all cops are pigs is ignorant.

do i need cops? i think so. do i feel they are sometimes harsh on what i believe are pointless exercises in enforcement? sure. as i said, there are some pigs, but, at least some of them, have been positive examples. similarly, there are also bad cyclists! would i complain about a getting a ticket for running a red light? yes, but only about the fact that i was so stupid not to notice the cop! unfortunately, some regulations have been created which cops enforce, sometimes with varying degrees of vigilence...if you do not like them, do something to change them! if you are not doing anything (pro)active, it is pointless to just complain about somebody doing their job.

finally, i am curious, for anyone complaining about the seemingly trivial nature of specific traffic regulations/violations, how many of you are actively involved in your community (e.g., cycling advocacy groups, police/citizen/community liason committees, municipal politics, etc.) to try to effect positive changes?? it is very easy to b!tch and complain (especially on forums), but to produce changes requires work, time and effort!

xunwedsailorx,
how ignorant are you?
by the fact that you're from louisville, KY...I wouldn't expect you to understand...espec. cause you're prob from THAT side of the tracks over there

I hate ALL cops because I hate the system itself and how it conditions them (and allows them)ALL to act, think, and treat people certain ways....I don't doubt that there are cops who are "nice guys", but ...what the fuk does "nice guy" mean?
There are also prob plenty of multinational CEOs who are "nice guys", but again...what does that mean? can your consciousness not be confused just because you're a "nice" guy. Does that make up for the thousands of workers across the globe who are subjected to inhumane conditions, low wages, and deregulated governments in order to line the CEO and his friends' pockets so that they can go play golf, tip the caddy boy and be "nice" guys.

now I'm not gonna go on and talk about cops, because...if you don't see the relationship and figure it out, then you need to be asking yourself how old you are...or better yet how mature you are. age is just a number, but maturity (social just as much as personal) is something more true. 's more elusive too tho', and you haven't seem to catch it

most generalization have their exceptions, and "law enforcement" has an integral and necessary (though even that is questionable) role in the society we live in...but...cops ARE (for lack of a better word) *****es

fuk 'em

15 years a cop, good job sentinel, you want kudos from me? pss. Sentinel, I'm sure that a lot (you'd prob say all) of the work that you do is great. I think child passenger safety technician instructors (phew...*catching my breath*) are a great service to the community. That service (like some other services that cops do) is the community service part of the job that not only cops are doing. You don't get kudos for that. Sometimes there's a good effort to show the CPR (courtesy professionalism and respect) that helps out the community. You might argue that its there a lot of the time. Whether it is or not, the good community work done by cops is FAR eclipsed teachers, community groups, social workers, charities, students, unions, and almost every other faction of society BESIDES "law enforcement" and the penal system.
Meanwhile, along with the consistent incidence of cop community work (that you would choose to emphasize), there is also the undisputable common incidence of police profiling and brutality, police exception from the law, disfunctional and inhumane "rehabilitation" processes, and the list goes on (which I would like to emphasize).

Listen, I know nice guys who are cops too. I talk to cops all the time. That doesn't keep me from seeing the clear contraditions in the supposed role of cops, and the backward role that they often play (whether forced to, trained to, coerced to, or openly willing to play).

saying ' fuk cops' is a statement of dissent, disapproval, and distrust

unfortunately I HAVE to respect something that can choose to, or HAppen to have little or NO respect for me, just like it had none for Amadou Diallo, Abner Luima, and countless other normal "nice" people everyday

this something, the cop code, the blue wall of silence, the repressive law, in its many forms, tranformations, and expressions (including the behavior of cops) is what we refer to when we say "fuk cops"...just like we say "fuk Bush" or "fuk capitalism" or "fuk fascism"

"Take it off the rack, if it's wack put it back
I like the Whopper, FUK the big Mac
If you want static, yo let's go
so, throw up your hands, go for what you know"
-darn rebellious high schooler

Well. I can't be as ignorant as you because if you knew anything, louisville is the 16th biggest city in the U.S. We're bigger than D.C. Now, unless you're calling everyone in D.C hicks and backwoods too, I think you should do research first. Let me help...https://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763098.html Now, I have all my teeth, they are straight, I wear shoes, and my girlfriend isn't my sister. Now that your assumptions have been shot to *****, maybe you'd like to shut up and listen for a second.

You're whole "fuk cops, and the system, and corporations too!11!one!1eleven!shiftone!" is old. Take your green day ideas and shove it.

If someone broke into your apartment, I mean, when you move out of your parents place and get one, I'm POSITIVE you would not call the cops. You'd be like "damn. guess i should go buy more stuff." No, you'd call the cops, file a report like a good boy, and hope your stuff comes back or at least you have SOME insurance to cover it.

Now, Teia, /crying and go ride. I would be if it wasn't for damn tornadoes tonight.


... and then you say this....

Seriously. You're already contradicting yourself.

"if [I] knew anything" ? please, I know how big lousville is (although, unlike you, I could care less about what it is ranked)and I also know (if you woulda read my post) what side of the tracks you live on.

Now you exposed yourself with the white trash stereotype, cause I wasn't even going there.

...and...criticizing the system is "old"? listen to yourself...you sound either stupid, insensitive, both, or really both. Take my green day ideas? what is a green day idea? if you're referring to the band, I don't even listen to them. if you're referring to "green" in terms of the referrence to the concept of mother nature and its beauty, well then... you just go and shove your anti green day (LMAO) ideas, cause "I'll be dat"

and you're so POSITIVE about that huh?...I thought a lot of ignorant privileged (read: white) people AT LEAST have seen Dave Chapelle talk about it. Unfortunately it is true that a lot of time people are deterred from being comfortable with cops (in ANY situation). Besides the fact that they prob wouldn't able to do **** about it, I might NOT contact a cop about. I'm probably less attached to the commodities I own than you, so you wouldn't understand that.

's actually besides the point...if you want to prove the fact that a cop might provide some miniscule service to me in my lifetime, I wouldn't care. That's not my point, and if you misinterpret it as that (and say that I'm contradicting myself), then you've proven yourself (although not functionally, but conceptually) illiterate.

oh I almost forgot...

I don't need you to try and tell me what to do, but...I'm not riding because my wheel is in service...

mod edit, beyond any sense of good taste.

Haha funny Shants, after meeting you this last weekend I have no doubts that you probably have and will again.

undoubtedly.... ditto

you have just proven yourself as biggoted, hateful and racist as the cops you dissaprove of. i'm suprised you can even ride your bike under the weight of the chip you are carrying.

Sad, very sad. No use wasting any more time on an idiot like tei. Thank goodness most people aren't so prejudiced as he/she is.

WRONG...
just cause I identify the fact it is part of a privilege to be white in this society doesn't make me "biggoted", nor hateful

you, just like your comrades, just proved yourself to be pretty ignorant and reactionary right there

yes...very sad...and that's yourself
you exposed yourself too, in that you got all uptight, and then finally admitted to being a cop
of course you had to protect your cop ego, that's understandable

don't waste any more of your time... you are in fact too much of an idiot to consider the serious questions that I've brought up

you talking to the gallery by refering to me in the third person and trying to invoke terms that you don't understand...you remind me of Bush...'s understandable that you must have to resort to that tho, idiots often have to...
I'm talking TO you, though...
I'm not prejudice cause I observe the way cops treat people...
YOU, on the other hand, need to check yourself

...and back on topic...

Last night, in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, a City Law Enforcement Officer, gave me a warning for running a red light. Absolutely no traffic whatsoever but a law is a law. It was rainy and way too windy and I wanted to get home so I stopped, looked both ways and rolled through the light. Brap. Lights a flashing, "i'll give you a ticket next time" And off I went.

Now, what were you talking about?